The notoriously sticky concrete or tile theater floors experienced a makeover in the '90s. Teal, purple, and yellow confetti star and squiggle carpets became ubiquitous in multiplex theaters around the country. But how did this trend start and who was responsible? Indie production house A24 embarked on an impressively exhaustive deep dive into carpet etymology, discovering that, yes, the busy design served a dual purpose of offering a futuristic experience while also camouflaging the pastiche of melted Jujubees and spilled soda byproduct of excited theater patrons.
"The Dimensional Innovations team would actually dump Coca-Cola on these new carpets, let it soak in, walk all over them, and check to see if it changed the colors. It didn't. Even blacklight lights wouldn't reveal the stains.
"…They officially branded this genre of carpeting as Electra-Dye. The chaos was a response to the desires of multiplex owners in the 1990s. They wanted something outlandish, that made you feel like you were at a theme park—and they got it. The Durkan Fun Time Collection of patterns was born, a carpet catalogue containing a boundless galaxy of squiggles, stars, planets, movie reels, gradients, confetti, swirls, soundwaves, swishes, and more."
